Satoru Sayama
| Satoru Sayama | |
|---|---|
| Born |
November 27, 1957 Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) |
Satoru Sayama (Shodai) Tiger Mask Super Tiger Tiger King Sammy Lee The Mask of Tiger The Tiger |
| Billed weight | 160 lb (73 kg) |
| Trained by |
Karl Gotch Antonio Inoki Yoshiaki Fujiwara Kotetsu Yamamoto |
| Debut | May 28, 1976 April 23, 1981 (as Tiger Mask) |
Satoru Sayama (佐山 聡 Sayama Satoru?) (born November 27, 1957) is a Japanese professional wrestler and mixed martial arts promoter, best known as the original Tiger Mask. He's wrestled under his real name as well as the names Sammy Lee, and masked Super Tiger, Tiger King, (Shodai) Tiger Mask and The Mask of Tiger. He is the only man to hold the WWF Junior Heavyweight Championship and the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship simultaneously. He is also the founder of Shooto, Seikendo and Real Japan Pro Wrestling. Bret Hart has called Sayama the 'Bruce Lee of wrestling' because of his lightning speed, martial arts abilities and athleticism.
Sayama debuted in New Japan Pro Wrestling, against Shoji Kai, a jobber known to have been the debut opponent for future stars (Rusher Kimura, Masa Saito, Osamu Kido, Tatsumi Fujinami, and Mitsuo Momota had debuted against him before). Sayama weighed only 160 pounds, which, even given his training, impaired him from getting a permanent spot on NJPW cards. So they sent him abroad, to England (where he wrestled as Sammy Lee) and Mexico, where he wrestled under his real name. It was in Mexico where he started to grow not only in physical stature but also in prominence, winning the NWA World Middleweight Title in EMLL.
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